A&G Insurance Services brand Budget Direct has launched a hail warning service for its customers.

The Hail Automated Notification System (HANS) has been two years in development and can look at different storm levels using radar to gauge the size and height of ice in a cell.

HANS then makes a decision on whether the hail will survive to ground level.

The catalyst behind the system was to predict hail of a damaging size, which is approximately 2cm at ground level, A&G Director of IT Paul Malt said.

“We wanted information that was more targeted and precise to what is generally available from the Bureau of Meteorology,” he said.

“The bureau is required to send out storm warnings that… are more general in nature.”

Mr Malt says the software application will alert Budget Direct motorists via text message when there is a high probability of hail in their area.

As the aim of the system is to make drivers move their car under cover safely, A&G won’t send out a text message unless there is a minimum warning time of five minutes.

It was tested in a recent spate of storms across Queensland and NSW.

“We are confident of its capabilities and are now starting to utilise the system,” Mr Malt said. “HANS has already sent out approximately 65,000 text messages to customers.”